I went into this show prepared to hate it, I'm a huge fan of the film and the musical and from the first trailer the glaring differences were clear. So, as a bit of a joke, I watched it. And it was good?
It has flaws- the dialogue can be odd, some characters actions come out of left field and some of the filming choices are questionable but- it's funny.
A huge gripe I and many people had were that the Heathers (popular generic mean girls) had become minorities, it was unrealistic, cruel and had a very boomer-vibe ("the bullies these days are all snowflakes desperate for likes") but these Heathers aren't a clique of popular girls who run the school, they're just trying to survive whilst projecting their image- people don't respect them and they don't respect themselves or each other. It's a school full of kids with more money than identity trying to figure out how to fit in, no one is popular for more than about 3 scenes.
It doesn't follow the original in any way but spirit. It, like the film and musical, is a comment on society: both the fast paced cancel culture of the young and the apathetic pretenses of all the adults in the show. It losely hits the plot points of the movie and has mostly the same names but besides that it's a different story with very different characters (Veronica in particular so don't expect her to be an audience stand in, she's very much doing her own thing)
My advice: if you're a fan of the original/musical skip the pilot (you're not missing much that you don't already know and it suffers the most from the boomer-ness) and enjoy a dark twisty Heathers-ish AU that has an ending more satisfying than either of its predecessors.
It has flaws- the dialogue can be odd, some characters actions come out of left field and some of the filming choices are questionable but- it's funny.
A huge gripe I and many people had were that the Heathers (popular generic mean girls) had become minorities, it was unrealistic, cruel and had a very boomer-vibe ("the bullies these days are all snowflakes desperate for likes") but these Heathers aren't a clique of popular girls who run the school, they're just trying to survive whilst projecting their image- people don't respect them and they don't respect themselves or each other. It's a school full of kids with more money than identity trying to figure out how to fit in, no one is popular for more than about 3 scenes.
It doesn't follow the original in any way but spirit. It, like the film and musical, is a comment on society: both the fast paced cancel culture of the young and the apathetic pretenses of all the adults in the show. It losely hits the plot points of the movie and has mostly the same names but besides that it's a different story with very different characters (Veronica in particular so don't expect her to be an audience stand in, she's very much doing her own thing)
My advice: if you're a fan of the original/musical skip the pilot (you're not missing much that you don't already know and it suffers the most from the boomer-ness) and enjoy a dark twisty Heathers-ish AU that has an ending more satisfying than either of its predecessors.